SA Rugby’s Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, said the Springboks achieved what they set out to do as they concluded their training camp in New Zealand with a final field session at the Ponsonby Rugby Club ground in Auckland on Friday morning.

Almost half of the squad and management are set to travel to Argentina later on Friday night from Auckland, while the rest of the South African travelling party is due to fly out to Buenos Aires on Sunday.

The full squad will train together again on Monday morning in the Argentine capital, where the South Africans will be staying until next Thursday before flying out to Salta.

Next Saturday's Test against the Pumas, in the high altitude conditions of Salta, is the Springboks’ final match of the shortened 2019 Castle Lager Rugby Championship.

Following the Salta encounter, the Springboks and Argentina will meet for a second week in a row on Saturday 17 August at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, in what will be the South Africans’ final home match before the official announcement of the 2019 Rugby World Cup squad on Monday, 26 August.

Speaking on Friday in Auckland, Erasmus said he was happy with the outcome of the week's preparation activities in Auckland.

“We chose to stay behind in Auckland (after the Wellington Test) mainly for two reasons,” said Erasmus shortly after his squad finished their final training session on Kiwi-soil.

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“Firstly, to cut down on the amount of traveling time between New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina.

“And secondly, we had some good team building exercises, while we used the time together to fit in some extra training time with the squad.

“We have grown into a very tight unit, so looking back at the past week I think we ticked both those boxes.”

The Springboks have a one-point lead over holders New Zealand in the build-up to the final round of Castle Lager Rugby Championship next weekend. Australia and New Zealand play in Perth in next Saturday's early match and that is followed by the Salta encounter between the Pumas and Springboks (kick-off 21h40 SA time).

The Springbok team for next Saturday’s match in Salta will be named on Wednesday afternoon (SA time).

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The Cell C Sharks travelled to the Manuka Oval in Canberra in 1996 for a Vodacom Super Rugby clash and despite starting very well, four tries by Wallaby speedster Joe Roff meant the home team came away with a thrilling 44-31 victory.

It was the Vodacom Bulls' third Vodacom Super Rugby final in four years and they celebrated in style, winning this all-South African affair against a very good DHL Stormers outfit by 25-17 at a packed (and very noisy) Orlando Stadium in Soweto.

As a playmaker for the Springbok Sevens team, Justin Geduld is often confronted with making important decisions: “stick with the planned move” or “is there another option” are two choices regularly faced by the Blitzbok flyhalf on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

After beating the Wallabies in their RWC opener, the Springboks faced Romania and Canada in their final two pool games and with a spot in the quarter-finals within their reach, Kitch Christie's men did what was necessary in two tough encounters.